These are the days of miracle and wonder

Van Manila-Cebu-Bohol-March2009

Decisions have been made. We'll leave this golden prison earlier then foreseen: instead of Sunday, we'll go back to Cebu this Friday. Our ultimatum to the management of this hotel worked: they don't want us around anymore, and they preferred us to leave -- which was exactly what we wanted, we just need to get our refund :-)

HL quickly booked the room in Marco Polo Cebu, and Allan will follow us on that trip, and stay with us in Cebu, one never knows what will happen. I don't think we have drawn too much attention to us from this (obviously locally very dominant) hotelfamily, and they will be too busy with the preparation of the party this Sunday anyway. But for those who read this blog: if something would happen to us while we're in the Philippines, even when it looks like an accident: the reason behind our misfortune will be the family that runs this damned Peacock Luxury Resort & Spa, Bohol, the Philippines. I say this jokingly, but one never knows.

The hotel/resort is built on a hilltop, and we are staying on the 1st and highest floor, so the view that we have is magnificent, we can see for miles and miles, both over land (the hotel is inland) as over sea. I hear dogs howling, and people crying and yelling, and at the end of the horizon (far far away) lighting flashes the sky, that must be over or even further then Mindanao ... and over that scene of human and earthly unrest, the thousands of stars seem unmoved by all that nightly turmoil. One needs to go to a real quiet place - such as this one - to thouroughly see, hear and sense the disorder.

Also disorderly but oh so pleasant was our afternoon stroll in the city. We walked street in, street out, smelling and feeling the nervous beat of the city, it's noisy and stinky and horrifying, but I love it. I went for a haircut (30 Pesos, that's roughly half a euro), we smelled the fish at the local market, we were blinded by the never ending varieties of rice, in all colours and flavors, we tasted the local sweets at a special foodstore in Agora Market, nearby the Tourism Info Centre, we admired the beauty of the young and old people in the shops and the squares, a neverending walk of discoveries of beauty and sensations. For me, it was nourishment for my soul.

Back in the hotel, the staff wondered why we were leaving earlier then planned. We have the impression that they don't want to see us go ... contrary to the management!

But the night has fallen, and the decisions have been made! New horizons wait for us :-)

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